UNICEF feeds 44,000 children in Somalia
Nairobi, Kenya, 14 May 2008 - Amid worsening drought conditions, soaring food prices and
mass displacement of people due to conflict, UNICEF has started supplementary feeding for
44,000 children under five years of age along the Mogadishu-Afgoye corridor in Central and
Southern Somalia.
With the support of local elders and in partnership with the Somali NGO Jumbo Peace and
Development, UNICEF aims to reach more than 90% of all children under five among an
estimated 300,000 people who have been displaced from Mogadishu. In the last three days,
a supplementary food gruel named UNIMIX was provided to 44,000 children through nine
distribution sites. Over the next three months, each child will receive 10 kg of the fortified
corn-soya blend per month.
“This feeding programme comes at a time of worsening humanitarian crisis. Over 2.6 million
Somalis are already food insecure and we expect that by the end of the year, up to 3.5
million people - nearly half of Somalia's population - may need food aid,” says Unni Silkoset
a nutrition officer with UNICEF Somalia. “We are extremely concerned about the most
vulnerable among this group and we are using all means possible to prevent a catastrophe
for the youngest children.” At the moment, UNICEF’s partners are reporting an increase in
admissions of severely malnourished children with about 2,000 children currently being
treated in therapeutic feeding programmes in the Mogadishu-Afgoye corridor. By distributing
UNIMIX to all children under five years of age, UNICEF hopes to reduce the number of
children who are at risk of becoming severely malnourished.
The Somalia situation in recent weeks has hit a downward spiral with rising food prices, an
extremely harsh dry season and a delayed start to the main April-June rains. Among the
areas hardest hit and in greatest need of humanitarian assistance are those with a high
population density and displaced communities. This includes Middle and Lower Shabelle,
Benadir, Galgadud, Bakool and Bay regions in Central and Southern Somalia - as well as
Mudug region and Bossaso town in Northeast Somalia. In addition, the fluid political and
security situation in Central/Southern Somalia poses a major challenge to the relief effort.
UNICEF is working with national and international non-governmental organizations to
provide life saving nutritional interventions for children. Severely malnourished children are
referred to therapeutic feeding programmes such as those operated by UNICEF-supported
Muslim Aid-UK.
“Our nutrition interventions in the Afgoye area were made possible through funding from the
UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and several governments,” said UNICEF
Representative, Christian Balslev-Olesen. “We are grateful to them and to our many other
donors who understand the urgency of the situation. More than ever before in recent history,
we are seeing hundreds of thousands of families at the brink of survival and we are working
round the clock to find additional ways of reaching them with assistance despite the very
difficult security situation.”
UNICEF and its partners are also chlorinating reservoirs to ensure access to safe drinking
water for the population of the Afgoye corridor. Water trucking, rehabilitation of boreholes
and acute watery diarrhoea control and prevention activities such as soap distribution and
latrine construction are also ongoing. In addition, UNICEF plans to drill boreholes to increase
the safe drinking water capacity in the corridor. In total, about 200,000 people are benefiting
from UNICEF’s water trucking and other relief activities in these IDP settlements, which
include the provision of education to more than 8,000 displaced primary school children,
access to psychosocial care and support, and community mobilization on child protection
and prevention of sexual and gender based violence.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and
thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines
for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and
sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from
violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of
individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For interviews please contact:

Unni Silkoset, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Somalia, Mobile: +254-712445369 or
+252-1-5267598. Email: usilkoset@unicef.org

Suraya Dalil, Accelerated Child Survival and Development Coordinator UNICEF
Somalia. Mobile: +254 724 255-646. Office: +254 20 7623950/+254-20-7623953,
Ext. 314 Email: sdalil@unicef.org
For more information please contact:

Denise Shepherd-Johnson: Communication Chief, Mobile: +254 722 719 867. Direct
line: +254 20 7623958. Email: dshepherdjohnson@unicef.org

Robert Kihara, Communication Officer, Mobile : +254 721 244 800 or +254 722 206
883. Email: rkihara@unicef.org